Shashikala to lead a young balanced squad to Women’s T20 Asia Cup

Sri Lanka will compete in this June’s 2018 Women’s T20 Asia Cup without regular captain Chamari Atapattu sidelined by the dengue virus with Shashikala Siriwardena taking over as the stand in captain.

Commenting on Sri Lanka’s chances and the 15-member squad for the mega women’s tournament from June 1 to 10 in Malaysia, Siriwardena said, “It is unfortunate we will be without Chamari who has been our key playmaker batsman. Also sidelined by dengue is Ama Kanchana. However, we will strive to compensate for their losses and stage a good fight with quite a balanced and young side. Our strong point is our bowling. Atapattu’s replacement Harshitha Madavi is quite a stroke filled batsman from Anula Vidyalaya. Kanchana’s replacement is Inoka Ranaweera.”

Addressing the media at the SSC Marque on Wednesday, Siriwardena did raise hope saying that ‘Sri Lanka has quite a good Asia Cup record having emerged runners-up thrice in 2004 when it was first staged and in 2006 and 2008. Another inspiration is that we have beaten reigning champions India in a T20 series in 2014.” Initially the Asia Cup was of 50 overs duration before it was pruned down to 20 overs.’

She added that the squad had played some practice matches while having to adjust to indoor training due to the inclement weather.

Of the squad Chief Selector, Rasanjali de Alwis said, “All 15 players possess international experience. There are a lot of young players. Inoka Ranaweera is a talented player who has also captained the side. Another promising player was Sugandhika Kumari who had overcome a fitness and child birth problem.

As to fronting the tournament, the Chief Selector said, “We will be fronting the tournament match by match. Our opening match will be against Bangladesh.”

Coach Hemantha Devapriya said that Yasoda Mendis would be promoted to open the batting in place of the sidelined Chamari Atapattu while Hasini Perera and Nipuni Hansika would also beef up the batting department. As to the opening match against Bangladesh, he said that they would have a good look at the wicket before picking the final eleven.”

The Squad:

Shashikala Siriwardena (Capt.), Yasoda Mendis, Harshitha Madavi, Anushka Sanjeewani, Rebeca Vandort, Hasini Perera (V. Capt), Nilakshi de Silva, Inoka Ranaweera, Udeshika Prabodhini, Sugandhika Kumari, Oshadi Ranasinghe, Nipuni Hansika, Malsha Shehani, Achini Kalasuriya, Inoshi Fernando.

Standby players:

Sripali Weerakody

Kavisha Dilhari

Sathya Sandeepani

By Srian Obeyesekere

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